Welcome to the Hog Blog, a blog chronicling minor-league baseball in the Lehigh Valley. Tom Housenick, The Morning Call's IronPigs beat writer, has been at The Morning Call since 2008. In a previous lifetime, he was at Lackawanna County Stadium in Moosic talking with future Phillies Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard, among many others.
He’ll now be spending his summers in search of who the Phillies are hoping to be the next Chase Utley and Cole Hamels plus any outfielder who catch and hit. What he really hopes to find are the next Mariano Rivera, Todd Helton and Jim Thome --- great human beings who happened to be great at this sport.
He spent the last five years covering Colonial League football, college basketball and high school track & field.

The Bacon 5K Challenge is at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19. It will start and end at Coca-Cola Park. It also introduces the greatest caveat in 5K history – a midway pit stop to complete the half-pound bacon challenge.

After devouring the heap of bacon, the hardest part of the race awaits as challengers run the final 2.5 kilometers back to Coca-Cola Park. Immediately following the race, celebrate and unwind with your friends and family at Coca-Cola Park’s post-race party (until 9 p.m.) featuring live entertainment, bacon-related food offerings and beverages for purchase.

Sign-up for the Bacon 5K Challenge today for just $45 and receive a commemorative “Scratch and Sniff” bacon race Dri-Tech t-shirt, chip timing featuring results via text message as you finish, a half-pound of bacon at the halfway point and one beverage ticket good for either a beer, bottled soda or water during the post-race party.

For those not wishing to participate in the bacon challenge, entry is just $40 and includes all of the other race day offerings, except the half-pound of bacon.

There also will be prizes for overall male and female winners who successfully complete the Bacon Challenge. Sign-up by Aug. 15 to guarantee your “Scratch and Sniff” bacon race Dri-Tech t-shirt. Registration ends Sept. 12. Race packet pick-up is available at Coca-Cola Park from Monday, Sept. 16 through Wednesday, Sept. 18 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Coca-Cola Park ticket office.

The Bacon & Brews Bash on Saturday, Sept. 20 from 1 to 5 p.m. at Coca-Cola Park will include dozens of local brew offerings. In addition to the unlimited beer tastings, all participants receive a collector’s 4-ounce tasting mug and the event's multiple vendors and food trucks offering bacon food items for purchase as well as live entertainment (and other fun and games such as the Lehigh Valley’s first Hog Calling competition).

Bacon & Brews Bash tickets are on sale now for $40 per person for the four-hour unlimited tasting event or $50 per person for those wishing to take advantage of a VIP hour featuring an extra hour of unlimited beer samplings, beginning at noon.

For $5, tickets are available for designated drivers who will receive complimentary soda or for those just wishing to eat bacon. Please note that you must be 21 or older to attend. Vendors looking to participate with beer or bacon fare for the two-day event should contact Mary Nixon at mnixon@ironpigsbaseball.com.

To register for the Bacon 5K Challenge or to purchase tickets for the Bacon and Brews Bash, visit www.ironpigsbaseball.com, call (610) 841-PIGS (7447) or visit the Coca-Cola Park ticket office during business hours (Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.). The total number of participants will be limited for both events.

“Bacon Days” is inspired by the success of the IronPigs’ brand-new bacon-themed uniforms unveiled earlier this year at www.SmellTheChange.com. The IronPigs’ new on-field Saturday cap, emblazoned with a strip of bacon across the front, is Minor League Baseball’s top-selling cap in 2014 and has been sold to all 50 states as well as over a dozen countries on four continents, making Coca-Cola Park the unofficial “home of bacon.”